Ralph i



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

P W GATES, Deod R. I. GATES, Administrator, STONE 0R ORE GONVEYER.

mvewco'c wivtwama,

alumna/1 N, PETERS, PholwLimagnphnr. Washmghm, n. c.

(No Model.)

. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. P. W. GATES, Decd.

R. I. GATES, Administrator. STONE OR ORE OONVEYER.

No. 397,849. Patented Feb. 1 2, 1889.

Wiiwaom r4v warms Pholo-Liihcgnpher, W uhingion, u. c.

llnirnn STATES FATENT tries.

PHILETUS IV. GATES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; RALPH I. GATES ADMINISTRA- TOR OF SAID PI-IILETUS GATES, DECEASED.

sToNE OR ORE CONVEYER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Fatent No. 397,849, dated February 12, 1889.

Application filed March 5, 1888. Serial No. 266,154. (No model.)

IO art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to endless sectional conveyers for either broken stone, ore, or other substances; and it consists in certain constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts, whereby a series of independentlyrevolving endless sections of the conveyer, which form different incline planes, and are arranged for discharging at will the substances being conveyed into each or any one of a series of separated bins, are connected or disconnected by pivoted adjustable chutes arranged, respectively, between the lowest end of one conveyer and the highest end of another and thus by swinging the chutes partly around on the pivots by which they are hung the stone, ore, coal, or other substances can be discharged and properly guided into any of a series of adjoining bins, or sncessively into all 0 of such bins.

My invention'is specially designed for supplying a want felt by railroad companiesavho break, for storage in bins, large quantities of stone and other materialsay hundreds and 5 thousands of tonsand ship the same by bringing their cars alongside or under the bins and loading them in a few minutes. Heretofore for conveying coal troughs and scrapers combined with endless conveyers, 4o ranging from, ten to several hundred feet in length and adapted for depositing in such bins at intervals of every ten or twenty feet, (more or less,) have been employed; but while these conveyers when, say, of a length two hundred feet, do well enough for coal, which is slippery and more. easy to move, they do not answer for broken limestone, as this substance packs, and unless the belts are reduced to, say, about fifty feet in length the wear and tear would be very great; and if used for traprock quartz and the like they would soon be worn out, and if made several hundred feet in length the substances would move very sluggishly, if at all. Another style of conveyer hearing more resemblance to my conveyer, but not provided with swinging, connectin g, and guiding chutes, has been used for sugar-refineries, (see Letters Patent granted to Joseph Stillman J anuary4,l881,flo. 236,192,) and on this particular construction of conveyer my invention is an improvement.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is i a broken side elevation and partial section illustrating my inventionin one mode of its use in connection with bins, the full black lines of the pivoted connecting-chute of the first and intermediate sections of the conveyor showing said chute as adjusted for a discharge of the conveyed substances into a bin next to the last represented section of the endless sectional conveyer, and the dotted lines of the first section showing them adjusted for discharging the conveyed substances into the first bin, while the full lines of the first section, as well as of the last, show the chute in position for discharging upon a section beyond the first and last represented section. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of a conveyor, showing a section of an endless belt, pulleys, a clutch and connecting-belts, the buckets being omitted.

The platform on which the conveyed substances are supported is not shown. Figs. 3 and at are details of the buckets which are to be attached to the endless belt or belts and with the same form the platform of the conveyer. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of my invention, illustrating another form of connecting chutes and another mode of using the invention in connection with bins. 0

A in the drawings represents a series of adjoining bins or receptacles, which vmay be of the construction shown in either Fig. 1 or Fig. 5, or of any other suitable construction.

B is the endless sectional conveyor, formed 9 5 of any appropriate number of endless sections, as a a a and each section may be composed of an endless belt, I), (or two or more endless belts maybe used,) passed around pulley c 0, either round or polygonal in cross- 10o section. On the beltor belts l) a supportingplatform, 12', formed of shallow adjoining buckets, as h Figs. 3 ands l, may be applied,

as illustrated in the drawings, for supporting 5 or containing the stone, ore, coal,or other substances being con veyed; or any other suitable, flexible, supporting-platform may be applied upon the belt or belts, and about midway between the pulleys c c rollers c are placed for keeping the platform from sagging. The higher pulleys, c, of the belts are arranged on shafts, as (:Z (Z d, and each shaft provided on one of its ends with a loose driving-pulley,

E, provided with a suitable clutch, F", Fig. 2,

l 5 by which it may be made a fast or loose pulley, and all the higher pulleys, c, are connected by belts, as F F F The sections a o (dare arranged, respectively, in an inclined position,

as illustrated in either Fig. l. orFi 5, a higher pulley, c, of one section being a considerable distance above a lower pulley, c, of another section of the conveyor. This arrangement leaves a large discharging-space, G, between each pairof the sections of the conveyer,and

the same leads into a bin A. In the space G connecting and guiding chutes, either as H, H, or as 11 are placed, as shown respectively in Figs. 1 and The chute H H comprises a stationary inclined 'iortion, ll, suitably fastened by brackets or other ordinary means to the frame-work of the conveyor, and a pivoted inclined portion, ll, the latter being pivoted by the pins of the said brackets, as at 7:. The part Ii forms nearly a right 5 angle with the part II, as shown by fullblack lines,- when a pair of the sections of the conveyor are so connected that the conveyed substances are carried across the space (1, so as to be deposited by one section upon another;

0 but when any two of the sections are separated and the space G not closed by the chute, and the conveyed substances can be conveyed through the space (i intoa bin A, the part H of the chute forms with the part ll a straight ,5 chute, as illustrated by dotted as well as full lines in Fig. ],and the part ll arrests the.

substances coming over a higher pulley, c, and, in conjunction with the partl, guides and conducts them into a bin A. ()n the pivot of the part H of the chute, or attached to the chute, a red, as I, may be applied for making the adjustments just described; or, if preferred, an attendant may tilt the part II to the proper position by hand or otherwise. I is an ordinary endless bucketelevator at the receiving end of the conveyor for elevating and depositing the substance to be conveyed upon the conveyor.

From the drawings and foregoing descrip- 6o lion it will be seen that either the first or the last or an intermediate bin, A, can be filled as occasion may require, it only being nece. sary to adjust the part ll of chute H II, or the entire chute H so as to disconnect or con- 6 5 nect the respective sections of the conveyor, and thereby discharge the substance into the first bin, or continue the movement of the same beyond a space or spaces, G, until they arrive at the point of discharge desired,which may be either at the first bin or any one of the succeeding bins, as circumstances require.

The chute shown in Fig.5.is not made in two parts, as H II, but is constructed in one requires that the spaces G shall be greater than when chute ll 11 is used, and that a greater inclination shall be given to the respective sections of the conveyer. I regard the two kinds of cluites described as equiya-lcnts of one another, so far as connecting the conveyer-sections and the guiding of the substances into the bins are cmicerncd.

In operating with the conveyor the sections of the belting beyond the first section may be made loose during the time the first bin is being filled and only the first pulley, E, kept in motion, and so any one of the pulleys and belts not required to be in action while other bins are being filled may be kept idle. This will avoid unnecessary wear of the machinery.

The swinging chutes (an be operz'ttetl very easily and conveniently, and they are not so liable to bind are sliding gates or cut-offs such as have heretofore been devised for use in connection with sectional conveycrsand at the same time they form a perfect guidin and conducting means from one belt to another, or into the bins. Tlhese guiding-chutes also admit of the bins bcin g constructed under the whole of the conveyor and .insurethe guiding of the sul'istanccs into the same, thus eeo'nomizing room for storage.

\Vhat I claim .is

l. A conveyor com n-ising endless inclined sections, every two having a dischargingspace between them, and a guiding-chute ar ranged to swing on pivots or pins placed cross wise of the sections, said chute bcingadaptcd to close a discharging-space between two of the sections, when it is desired to carry the substances being conveyed beyond the first section of the conveyor, and adjustable on its pin or pivot to an. inclined position, so as to open the discharging-space between. two of the sections, and turn, guide,.and discharge the said substan ccs between an d below the sections, substantially as described.

The combination,with a series of adj oining bins arranged beneath an endless conveyor, of a series of endless sect-ions having a diseharging-spaoo between every two, and a series of swinging, separatcly-adj ustablc, connecting, and directing chutes constructed to lie longitudinally with the sections an d. occupy positions between the said sections, whereby they are adapted to close the said discharglug-spaces, and also to be adjusted to bacle wardly-inclined positions, and thereby open said spaces and discharge the substances into pied by a connecting and guiding chute, sub- IO bins beneath the sections, substantiallyas destantially as described.

scribed. In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my sig- 3. The connecting and guiding chute formed nature in presence of two Witnesses. of two parts, H 11, one of which is hung on a PHILETUS GATES pivot and swings and is adjustable thereon,

in combination with the endless sections of a \Vitnesses:

conveyer, having a space between their lower GEORGE VAN ZANDT, and higher pulleys, c c, which space is occu- D. XV. BUCHANAN.

i i l Letters Pat Correction m It is hereby certified that Letters Patent No. 397,849, issued February 12, 1889,

of Chicago, Illinois,

Ralph 1. Gates, as admin-r said Ralph I. Gates,

upon the application of Philetus W. Grates, for an improvement in Stone or Ore Gonyeyers, was erroneously granted to istrator, that said Letters Patent should have been granted to and that the said Letters the record of the casein the Patent Office.

19th day of February, A. D. 1889.

D. L. HAWVKINS, Assistant Secretary of the Interior.

as executor,- Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to Signed, counter-signed, and sealed this Counter-signed:

BENTON J. HALL,

Commissioner of Patents. 

